This weekend (May 2-3) the Living Green Expo is taking place at the State Fair grounds. According to the website, “The annual Living Green Expo is a free, family-friendly event that inspires people to lead healthier and more sustainable lives.” Sounds like a great time, especially if it’s going to be nice out. The best part is, you can print off a Go Greener pass and take the bus there for free. And who doesn’t love free rides and metro transit? (okay well, free rides at the very least)

I spend a lot of time on the web. Here are some site with local ties that I have fallen in love with:

Mullet Like Me: This is the blog of a local gent who is on a mission-discover what life is like if you have a mullet. Every post is gold.

Bachmann Watch: This site is dedicated to taking down Michelle Bachmann. I cannot tell you how funny this site is, no matter which side of the aisle you are on. Does it feel like a tabloid to anyone else?

More strange from the Iron Range: at a time when the state is facing a huge budget gap, the House, Senate and Governor’s opposing proposals threaten another end-of-session train wreak and we have Swine Flu to worry about, Rep. Tom Rukavina offers an amendment to weaken the state’s smoking ban. Rukavina’s “smoking room” amendment failed, as did another amendment to allow “smoking shacks.”

Call me a seventh grader if you want to, but I love the Festival of Nations. As a seasoned traveler who has spent plenty of time in Mexico, Spain and Chile, I look forward to any event that gives me a taste of these countries. The FoN has delicious food from many different cultures and an awesome bazaar. Best of all (for me at least) is that there will be Chilean musicians and dancers performing this year. Bacán.

It may just look like an average $75 Menard’s lighting fixture, but the description makes it so much more than that…

This is an iron and glass Gothic affair with brown variegated accents.

It is weighty. If we had a castle, we would place this fixture on the rampart next to the entry portcullis. Any beseigers not repelled by boiling oil could have this fixture dropped on their heads, to gruesome and deadly effect.

Chris Stewart is in the news again and once again it involves alleged charges of racism against Burroughs Elementary Principal Tim Cadotte and the entire Burroughs community.According to the Star Tribune

A southwest Minneapolis school principal was placed on paid administrative leave Monday after an unannounced visit from a school board member escalated into an argument between the two men last week that included charges of racism, district parents said.

Board Member Chris Stewart made a surprise visit to Burroughs Elementary School on Friday during which he called Burroughs Principal Tim Cadotte and the entire school community racist, parents said

I’m a little disappointed the Strib would run this story as a story about racism and only cite the nebulous “parents”, whom I doubt were even present during the meeting between Stewart and Cadotte.

Also what is up with the editing at the Strib?
How did “parents” becomes “Parents”?

Parents said he received a call from district headquarters after Stewart’s visit and was summoned to appear before Deputy Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson on Monday

Ugh. Who knows if any of this is true, but Stewart does have what could be called a rabble-rouser past so the thought of him calling an entire community racist isn’t totally unfathomable; it just seems unlikely.

All you armchair quarterbacks, it is your time to shine. The NFL Draft is coming up. The Vikes pick 22nd. Lets hear your thoughts on what they should do:

My opinions:

Pick a quarterback, and actually put your trust in him. I doubt even Tom Brady could handle the constant fear of not starting that Childress has in our current quarterbacks.

Dont do anything stupid in the draft. Make sure that every pick counts-we are running out of “rebuilding” seasons, and we are going to start losing the truly good Vikings while we try and develop the rest of the team.

The Minneapolis Farmers Market starts this weekend (April 25). And they have a Twitter account! Nice move. Hopefully they have more to say than “The first day is April 25,” though. Beyond what can be immediately assumed from “Minneapolis Farmers Market,” there are people (like me) who have never been, don’t know what to expect, and need just a little convincing to actually go. I did check out their website, though. I feel sort of ashamed being Minnesotan and never having gone to one, although I’m not sure why…